Chapter 46: NeurIPS Results Released

While several of them were discussing, Xiao Wang knocked on the meeting room door.

"Excuse me for interrupting, everyone. Here are today's lunch vouchers. You can head over to the cafeteria later."

"Alright, shall we go grab some lunch first?" Deng Yonghua took the vouchers and looked around at the others.

"Sure, let's go eat," the others nodded, as they had pretty much finished discussing the matters at hand.

At the dining table, Zhou Yun listened to the professors chat. They weren't just talking about academic topics, but rather trivial matters of everyday family life.

Even these professors didn't have lives completely consumed by academia.

Professor Li picked up some stir-fried seasonal vegetables with his chopsticks and looked at Zhou Yun with growing interest. "Little Zhou, you mentioned you are in the AI field, right? How did you end up attending this meeting with Professor Deng?"

Just as Zhou Yun was about to answer, Deng Yonghua chimed in with a smile, "This kid just started school this year, and his specific research direction hasn't been completely finalized yet. Besides, he has been feeling a bit lost lately, so I brought him along to see the world and broaden his horizons."

"Oh? A first-year PhD student?"

Deng Yonghua smiled even more brightly. "No, a newly admitted master's student this year."

Mr. Wang, sitting nearby, became even more curious. "Then since his research direction isn't finalized yet, why do you say he's in the AI field?"

"He did some work before enrolling and managed to get it accepted into NeurIPS this year."

"NeurIPS? That's a top machine learning conference. He's that good?"

Instantly, several gazes turned toward Zhou Yun. Previously, they had just thought Zhou Yun was a quick-witted young man, but now it seemed he was far more than just somewhat clever.

When they had first entered graduate school, they certainly didn't have the caliber to publish in top-tier conferences.

"Since when did Professor Deng pivot to the AI field?" a nearby professor raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't. This work was published by Zhou Yun independently; I didn't offer much help. However, as AI has become increasingly popular in recent years, I do indeed have plans to venture into the AI domain."

"Whoa! That's incredible. Publishing independently in NeurIPS as a first-year master's student is extraordinary. Xiao Yun, your starting point is something countless PhD students can only envy."

Mr. Wang sighed with emotion. "I must say, Professor Deng has a sharp eye for talent. Our company actually plans to develop our AI industry as well, so perhaps we'll have a chance to collaborate in the future."

"You flatter me, teachers," Zhou Yun replied modestly. "I still have a lot to learn from all of you."

Compared to Zhou Yun, the other two students at the table appeared somewhat silent.

They suddenly felt that they might as well not have come to this meeting. Originally intending to learn things from their teachers, before they had even done anything, they were already crushed by another professor's student.

After lunch, the professors chatted casually all the way back to the meeting room.

Once formal work resumed, the professors regained their solemn demeanor.

...

At a certain company's AI Research Institute.

"The NeurIPS acceptance list is out for this year. Did you guys check it?"

"When did that happen? Let me see." A technician sat up straight and clicked his mouse to open the official NeurIPS website.

"It really is out. What's the verdict? Any interesting work?"

"I haven't looked closely yet, but there's a paper from our own research institute, though it's from the next-door group."

"That's awesome. Their bonuses are probably going to double this year, right?"

He scrolled his mouse to look at the paper titles.

Computer science papers generally reveal what they are about simply from their titles.

"Huh? *AgileEdge: Adaptive Co-Optimization for Pervasive Low-Latency Edge AI*? Is this about model compression?" The technician read the title of the paper aloud and clicked in to take a look.

He skimmed the abstract and raised an eyebrow.

"Team Leader Zhang, take a look at this paper. It looks very similar to the work we're currently doing." He turned his monitor toward the man in the adjacent seat, who was the leader of their research team.

"Oh? Let me see." Team Leader Zhang pushed up his glasses, leaned closer to the screen, and swept his gaze over the title and abstract. After ten seconds,

"It really is very close to our current work. Which lab did this come from?" He found the author information column. "Hmm? Zhou Yun, Qiantang University?"

He traced back to the final author information with lingering doubt.

"Master's student, enrolled in 2024? Doesn't that mean this paper was published before he even started school? Advisor, Deng Yonghua?" Team Leader Zhang thought for a moment, then shook his head: "No impression."

"Tsk, that's really strange. Where did this come from?"

"Alright, send me the paper title. I'll take a closer look."

That review process lasted an entire afternoon. Team Leader Zhang furrowed his brow, occasionally writing and sketching on a piece of paper.

It wasn't until six in the evening that he picked up the cup beside him, took a sip of water, and exclaimed with admiration, "Such a brilliant idea!"

He had basically grasped the general train of thought behind the paper, though there were still a few detailed formulas he hadn't fully unraveled. Even so, this didn't prevent him from holding the paper in extremely high regard.

His team was currently researching smartphone AI assistants, which happened to require solving the exact problem of model compression. Since a new research breakthrough already existed, there was no need for them to stubbornly bang their heads against the wall trying to invent it from scratch.

Finding Zhou Yun and purchasing the commercial license from him was the most standard approach for a large company like theirs.

A new technology takes time to transition from research to practical implementation, and time is money. There was no point in reinventing the wheel for something that had already been built; it would be meaningless.

Team Leader Zhang took a deep breath, organized his thoughts and the scrap paper on his desk, and dialed his superior's phone number.

The phone rang a few times before it was answered.

"Hello, Mr. Li? Sorry to disturb you so late. I am Zhang Ming. I have a very important matter to report to you regarding the AI assistant project we are currently working on."

"Go ahead, what is so important?"

"The NeurIPS acceptance list was released today, and I happened to see a paper on it that is very similar to our current work. Based on my experience, the technology in this paper can be directly applied to our AI assistant."

"On NeurIPS? Is this technology that powerful?"

"That's right. According to my analysis, if we use this technology, the performance of our smartphone AI assistant will be at least 50% better than the current top-tier competitors. And that's just a conservative estimate based on the experimental results in his paper."

"Even so, shouldn't you report this directly to the head of the research department? There's no need to call me directly, is there?"

"Mr. Li, didn't you say before that if I ever discovered any extraordinary talent, I should report directly to you? You'll never guess who published this paper."

Mr. Li's tone carried a hint of surprise. "Oh? Let's hear it. To have you speak of it like this, I'm actually a bit curious."

"The other party is a first-year master's student at Qiantang University, and this student is the first author!"

"Qiantang University? I've heard of it, a school in Hangzhou. But if I remember correctly, isn't that a non-Double First-Class university?"

"Mr. Li, I'm not clear on the details. I just feel that it is imperative for us to secure the licensing for this technology."

"Alright, I understand."